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Can Anyone Catch Lando Norris for the 2025 F1 Drivers Championship?

Unlapped Nov 20, 2025 25 min

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About this episode

The discussion centers on Lando Norris's surge in the 2025 F1 Drivers Championship, highlighting his regained confidence and strong performances in challenging conditions compared to teammate Oscar Piastri. The hosts analyze McLaren's car adaptability and the pressure on Norris to maintain momentum. They also touch on Max Verstappen's resilience despite setbacks, Ferrari's internal struggles and blame culture, and the impact of recent team dynamics. Predictions for the upcoming races are shared, emphasizing the tight title fight and the significance of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in shaping the championship outcome.

Topics: lando norris performance oscar piastri struggles mclaren car adaptability max verstappen comeback ferrari team issues f1 championship standings race predictions las vegas grand prix driver confidence team dynamics

Welcome back to Unlapped! ESPN's Nicole Briscoe, Laurence Edmondson, and Nate Saunders preview the Las Vegas Grand Prix live from the paddock. Will Oscar Piastri hit back with a strong weekend and put the pressure back on Lando Norris? Max Verstappen is always a factor no matter the circumstances, after a masterful drive in Brazil, can Max do the unthinkable? Plus, with drama swirling around the Ferrari team, what type of performances can we expect from Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to Las Vegas.

It's a little quiet right now, because we're sneaking this in in the paddock.

But if you're watching us, hi, this is Unlapped.

I'm Nicole.

We've got the full crew here, Nate and Lawrence.

We finally got everyone back together.

Remember, if you're watching at ESPN's F1 YouTube channel, like, subscribe.

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Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

You've been the world traveler for Formula One.

He's been the world traveler because how dare he take a vacation.

Just for myself, really?

How was your trip?

Well, it was fantastic.

But I felt kind of bad leaving Nate in the lurch to cover the Brazilian Grand Prix,

which was not a simple Grand Prix to cover.

It was not.

It was an interesting one to do, but I would also have missed the Brazilian Grand

Prix to do what Lawrence did.

So, you know, I think it sounded pretty great.

So, yeah, I went traveling around Japan, which is one of my favorite countries.

I get to go, well, almost every year with work, but it's great to go back

there as holiday.

But people don't need to hear about that.

No.

And again, like I talk about his Instagram all the time, but like seriously,

you should check out his photos on the Instagram.

Bottom line, we're in Vegas.

This is the final stretch.

We have three races to go.

This being the third to the last.

And the title fight has gotten particularly interesting in the last couple of weeks,

given Lando's success.

So, here's what we have right now.

Lando is leading the way, Oscar Piastri, 24 points back.

And then you have Verstappen, who's 49 backs.

If you are curious, there are a total of 83 points left to give, or like to grab at least.

There is one sprint race remaining.

It is not here this weekend.

Let's talk about Lando.

Let's start there, because Lando is the one who is just surged forward, really starting

in Austin.

How confident are you that he can keep it up?

Well, his confidence level is sky high.

Why not?

And it should be.

Speaking of the press conference, you know, he talked about how it's been

in little things.

It's not just one thing that's clicked.

It looks like that from the outside, doesn't it?

Because like you say, from Austin, it's just really kind of gathered momentum.

But it's lots of little things he's been working away on.

And it's finally all come together.

And I feel like, also, just the circuits we've been to, and this circuit again,

have suited Lando over Oscar.

You know, we're always trying to figure out what the two drivers like.

But it's very clear that Oscar really struggles in low-grip conditions, which we had in

Austin, Mexico.

We have on another scale here.

Yes.

And Lando, meanwhile, has just been reveling in it and getting the most out of that car

again.

But he's such a confidence driver, isn't he?

Yeah, he really is.

And we were just saying as you're on the walk up here that the Lando of right now seems

like the Lando of pre-season.

He was very confident.

And very relaxed, too.

Very relaxed.

So at the start of the year, we went to the launch event, you know, the start

of the season.

Lando was sat around like somebody who knew he was going to be world champion

that year, that you had that air about him.

We then saw that kind of plummet a bit in the season as he kind of started making

mistakes, over-driving, over-thinking.

And we're now starting to see that back.

And for Piastri, worst time that could have happened, because his dip has

coincided with Lando coming back into form, not just on track, but away from

the track as well.

And, yeah, I think he's been great.

And actually, if you look back at the two years that have been teammates

together, something McLaren pointed this out to me in Brazil, Lando has

finished the year stronger in both seasons.

Now, last year, Piastri was playing the team game a bit more, so it's a

bit harder to see.

But in terms of pure race pace, I think Norris, coming down the stretch,

actually knew in the back of his mind, I've always been strong to

launch his point.

I mean, I mean, it's not just Lando, it's actually McLaren.

This has been an abysmal place for them.

Lando had that wicked crash in season one here.

They've never been on the podium.

So for both of them, considering at least one of them is going in

absolutely the right direction.

And the fact that they've been so good, like, how confident are they

that they're going to be on the podium?

And I think that's been in the back of his mind.

So everything's just come together for him in a perfect way.

I mean, what a time for that to happen.

It is kind of funny to say that this suits him because it's not

so good.

Like, how confident are you that this is where they finally turned

it around in Las Vegas?

I'm not overly confident.

I don't think they are either.

No.

Like, McLaren this year have had the best car over all the races

they've had the best car.

But this is what teams try to create.

They try to create a car that's good at the most possible

race tracks.

Mercedes is like an example at the other end of the spectrum,

especially here last year, where this was the one track

where they were utterly dominant.

And everywhere else, they kind of struggled a little bit,

got some results together in certain conditions.

You'd much rather be in the McLaren position where you have

a car that works everywhere, and then these weird outlier

circuits where the conditions are completely different

and you never really envisaged developing a car for this

circuit anyway, because you were looking to get something

that's good at all the circuits.

You just have to pay the price.

And so I think that will be the case again.

I'd say there's...

I mean, Lando even said to me like five minutes ago,

he's like, this is a track where I think we're

expecting to not be on full.

Yeah.

I think Lando can take some confidence from Austin

and Mexico, because those were two...

Mexico especially was a circuit where we were like,

oh, I'm not sure the McLaren's going to be that good there.

And then he was in his own world.

Yeah, he was on another level.

So you do get these surprise results along the way.

And he's certainly found something in the car

and just the confidence in the car.

Again, keeps saying low grip conditions.

But when it is like that, he's just able to live

with the car on the edge, deal with it being

slightly different corner to corner.

Oscar hasn't been able to do that.

He's hoping he's turned a corner,

but we have to wait and see if Prief will be

in the pudding this weekend.

Yeah, I agree.

And I think actually for Norris, perfect opportunity,

perfect if for him almost, this is still a bad weekend,

because if he has an off week, I don't think

Piazza is going to be able to claw that many points back to him.

I think last year there were fifth and sixth here

and they were a distant fifth and sixth for everyone.

So even if Norris has an off day,

I can't really...

And the form Piazza is in as well.

You can't really see him finishing that strongly.

So it was funny in the press conference.

Norris, he's been a bit techy about this one subject

all year.

He hates the fact that whenever he said,

we're not the favorites here,

he kind of, there's a bit of a beat down

of fans in the media.

And he said, I'm not allowed to say

we're not the favorites anymore,

but we're not the favorites here.

And he is right.

You know, they're not the favorites here.

But I think that's quite interesting

because I think that to that point,

they have felt there have been races

where there's been really extreme swings

for them at really specific places.

And I think it's one of the few things

that Norris has consistently said all year.

He's like, we're not as good as everyone says he is.

And then they go and win three races straight

or something.

But I just thought it was quite a funny moment

earlier in the press that we had.

For Oscar, there have been many times

throughout this season where we've said,

oh, Max Verstappen is not in this high-told fight

or this championship is over

and we were saying it about Oscar.

With the three races to go in the gap now,

24 and what is it, 49 back to Max.

I don't want to say this championship is over,

but I am starting to feel more and more

like this is Lando's.

Well, we've seen how quickly it swings there,

haven't we?

It can, I know.

Because when we were together in Austin.

We were still within one race.

You know, we left Austin and we were like,

look at Max.

Max is coming through.

He's unstoppable.

We were fully on that track.

That car was quick in all types of circuits.

Went to Mexico and it wasn't quick anymore.

Went to Brazil and they got lost with the setup.

Eventually it was very quick,

but it just shows you how quickly

this sport can change,

especially with this regulation set

where we've ended up with all the teams

so close to each other.

Tiny little mistakes go a long way.

And then if you look at Oscar

and you just go through the races back to back

where he had those two big accidents,

one in qualifying, one in the race

and it really did set him back.

You look at all those little mistakes

and how things could have gone differently

and the championship would look different.

He'd be leading.

So it is all going Lando's way.

He is the favourite.

I think we're now in a position where we can say that.

Perhaps earlier we were getting a bit carried away

picking out favourites.

But because of what we've seen can happen,

you can't rule Oscar out.

All we needed, you know,

Lando crashed here early on two years ago.

In the race.

Something like that happens again.

Small mistake.

Especially given, I think, the grip levels

and things like that.

I think you've always got to remember as well

that when the title fights are that close,

Piastri could leave here leading the championship

if it goes that way.

Yes.

Whenever that is the case in the championship fight,

you always have to say,

well, look, it can swing around.

And to Max's, I mean, I think,

even though we all think how good Max is.

But we also still can't...

Yes.

We can't count him out either.

A strong race here,

if McLaren really do mess it up,

then they're under a lot more pressure and guitar.

And again, then they'll have the question of,

are you going to have team orders to fight Max often?

You know, you can see McLaren at points this year,

haven't delivered the optimum maybe

in terms of some of the ways they've operated.

They've been great a lot of the time.

So this does seem like...

I know it's silly to say

because it's three races left

and this is one of them.

But this does seem like the one

that will really dictate how the season finishes.

Because we could get to Saturday night

and we're like, Lando's going to win it in Qatar.

Or we're like, all three of them might win it

and it could be an Abu Dhabi.

Yeah, and I would say with Oscar,

I think here, knowing that the car might struggle,

he's just got to finish ahead of Lando.

I mean, that sounds obvious.

He's got to do that.

But because he knows...

It's like limiting damage.

Limiting the damage,

because he knows the next two circuits

are ones where actually in theory,

about what suits Lando and what suits Oscar,

they should actually suit Oscar and McLaren.

So perhaps that can be where he gets his bit of luck.

Something goes wrong for Lando

and he gets a big point swing.

So yeah, I think number one priority here

is that he's just got to make sure that during practice

he's on around the pace of Lando

and then, like he was doing earlier in the season,

in qualifying, just hit that level at the right time

and make sure he's ahead in the race.

And it should be said,

I still think that Nora still has to prove to everybody

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that he can handle that.

Because that was the rap on him at the start of the year.

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Now we're all like, well, the smart money says that.

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I don't want to move away from this

without talking about Max a little bit

because the way that he has driven

and the last also handful of weeks,

but particularly like Brazil,

there's some sort of weird Brazil magic

because what he did last year there

was one of the greatest drives

we've ever seen.

But this year,

he started from Pit Lane

and he still finished where he did.

It's once again like,

oh, Max can drive a shoebox.

Max is super talented.

Max is a generational talent.

We may not ever see this again.

But what he has done this season

to put himself in the position where he is in

right now,

like it really cannot be understated

and also we really can't look at him

and be like, yeah, I know,

we can count him out.

I think this is actually a kind of a...

So it's mathematically possible.

Yeah, it's mathematically possible.

And I think either way,

this seems like more than any other year

it's been a legacy defining season

for Verstappen, if you know what I mean?

Like, I think last year was that a bit...

He didn't have the best car,

but he was still making...

Yeah, and that's not to say

we didn't think how good he was

coming into this season,

but this will be the year...

So Fernando Alonso has two world championships.

Every single person in this paddock

says his best season was 2012

when he should have won the championship,

but he didn't have the best car

and he dragged it all the way to the end.

Verstappen kind of has that,

I think, going for him now.

Obviously, it'd be great

if he still has the chance going into it.

But he's just been amazing.

There's a great onboard

if you find Okon's onboard.

Oh, is he there?

You just find him in the Pit Lane

and you just see Max slowly...

He's gone.

Obviously, it's a house versus a rebel,

but you just see Max

sliding through the field

and you can almost feel Okon being like,

I want to go with you.

I can't get you.

Great, great, great.

Yeah, yeah.

And Max just slowly disappears,

but he's just gone.

And it was amazing being there.

And actually, it was so interesting in Brazil

that every single person

he spoke to on race day

was like, yeah,

he's going to be on the podium.

That's the level of confidence

everyone had he could do it.

And even thinking that

when you saw it,

it was still pretty amazing to see.

Yes.

And even thinking it just given

where they were earlier in the week

with the setup there,

like you said, they were lost.

Oh, yeah.

Anyway.

I mean, perhaps it could have been better.

I mean, I've watched this from Japan

at about 3 a.m.

So my mind is a little bit boggled,

but they haven't made that final pit stop.

Yeah.

You know, there's some serious questions

about that.

Rebel were pretty adamant

that they had to make it

given the tire wear

and it really could have come and done.

But when you think

like nothing to lose

kind of situation,

maybe they should have just gone with it.

I was surprised with that

because it did seem like Max

was like that was the right call,

but usually he's the guy being like,

no, that's like to your point.

Like if the wheels explode,

like, you know, whatever,

like, you know,

yeah, I mean, like,

the only thing there

is that the wheels explode,

then that does basically

take him out of the title fight.

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

So they were also trying

to play it safe to some extent,

which is the interesting situation

that they put themselves in now.

That's true.

When I say the word drama,

which team do you think of?

Well, it's written here.

Ferrari.

Oh, I was going to say,

I was going to say Alpine.

No, no.

No, but I mean,

definitely Ferrari.

In case you've missed it,

if you've been living under the rock,

how is it?

They came out,

John Elkin came out and said,

our drivers need to drive more

and talk less.

And that the car is living up

to expectations.

It's basically the drivers.

That's the quick summary of it.

That was a very good

and accurate summary.

First of all,

when you heard that

for the first time,

just because we haven't actually

talked in person about this,

when you heard that

for the first time,

what the hell did you think?

Well, so I saw the quote first on Twitter.

Yes.

Oh, sorry, on X.

Sorry, Elon.

And there's so many

Cherner accounts now

on X and social media.

I thought someone had just made this up.

Yes.

It's been translated poorly

and I thought,

no way there is.

And then I saw a few journalists

who, you know,

we work with very respected journalists

tweeting it.

And I was like,

okay, then you find the clip.

And I thought maybe the Italian's been

actually sent it to my dad

and was like,

can you make sure this Italian is right?

And he's like,

it's exactly what he said.

I was like, oh my word.

So it was shocking.

And I'd seen the Ferrari team

in the lounge in Sao Paulo

just before.

And I could imagine,

I think they all got the quote

come through on their phones

as they slowly got onto the Wi-Fi.

Apparently they were just like,

what is happening?

Oh, like midair,

you know, you can imagine that.

So yeah, pretty shocking.

And I think everyone had

the same reaction, right?

I was just shocked,

but to some extent,

not surprised.

It's very on-brand for Ferrari

over the years.

You know,

just to kind of like,

everything starts falling apart

and then a finger of blame

gets pointed,

usually in the wrong direction.

And nothing good comes out of it.

And I feel like that's exactly

what's happened with Ferrari

here again.

But, I mean,

today it's been all about

damaged limitation

and kind of like smoothing

over the cracks.

And the drivers,

I mean, you know,

I think John,

like, owes them both a beer

at least,

because they've really

done them a favor

in trying to kind of

keep this story,

like, under control.

Yeah, we spoke to them both.

And they were both

very on message,

very similar message.

And which is both good on.

The R machine is working beautifully.

Yeah.

And you know that

they do both get on

with John Elkin very well.

I mean,

John Elkin's relationship

with Lewis Hamilton

and Fred Versailles's

relationship with Lewis Hamilton

is really the reason he's there,

you know,

so that one interview

wouldn't have ruined that.

But you could tell

that they never at any point

said he shouldn't have said

what he said,

but they just said

what he meant to say

was meant to be positive

and we're taking it in

a positive way.

So it's very interesting

and you can see why

both of them are actually

very good,

you know,

from a corporate perspective,

that was actually a really

good message for them

because they could have

escalated it.

I was thinking

they're not going to talk.

Can't talk anymore.

You know,

they kind of did it very,

very well

and actually I think

they could have put their

foot in their mouths today

and saying something else

escalated.

They actually didn't do that.

So like when I'm listening

to them though,

and knowing sort of

like what we're

being told sort of behind

and so when we're

allowed to ask

some questions

or not

allowed to ask

some questions,

it does feel very much

like this is a

PR driven scheme,

a PR driven plan

to make it all go away

and this is our message

going forward

because we know this

didn't play out.

Fine.

You can have that.

All I can think of

is behind the scenes,

there was damage done.

So how do you bounce back

from that?

The behind the scenes

damage?

I think it just

entirely depends on

those relationships

that you just mentioned

and how deep

and strong they are already.

Are they strong enough?

You have a Lewis Hamilton

in his first season.

I think Lewis

is obviously stronger

there.

I mean there's no doubt

about that

Ferrari

seemed like at the start

of the season, hasn't

transpired.

But even today

and I'm sure some of this

was part of the PR drive

to sweep us all

under the carpet

but even today

he was still talking about

how he gets excited

about going to Maranello

and he said it

in a way which I genuinely

believed.

I didn't feel it was just

PR to be.

And he said that

he had some great quotes

it was the romance of it

like how

it's the nicest people

he's ever worked for

and all that stuff.

It was back to how

he was talking at

the start of the season.

I think in a way

he didn't understand

why he did it

or whether he really

meant it or whatever.

But in a way

perhaps Lewis

has reflected on it

and thought

let me just still look

at the good things

about this.

He talked about his

nightmare season

in Sao Paulo

trying to wake up

from a nightmare

but perhaps

having those

comments out there

Lewis has just

stood back

a little bit

reflected

some things about this

job are still incredible.

I am still

a Ferrari

driver

and there is

no doubt

that place will be

a fantastic atmosphere

if they start winning

from the first race

next year.

Whether that's going to

happen or not

is way too early to say

but it's amazing

how quickly results

will change a team

and an atmosphere around it.

Remember 2022

when Ferrari

started that season

so strongly

the vibes from that

team were great

people walked

to the spring in their

step

the fans were just like

oh my god

we're going to

win a championship

and it fell apart

very quickly

and I think

that happened

on the comments themselves

I actually thought

what's quite interesting

is I think it suggested

there is quite

an insecurity

in the two teams

that John Elkin mentioned

were firing

on all cylinders

engineers and mechanics

the fact that

he threw the drivers under

the bus

is kind of what

everyone looked at

but actually the fact

that he was like

our mechanics are doing

great

our engineers are doing

great

it suggests that

Ferrari has always had this

blame culture of

things aren't going well

it's that person's fault

underneath it all was him

trying to basically say

guys you're all doing

a great job

the unity

almost is also from

that point

and Lewis when we spoke to him

earlier did talk about

they're climbing a mountain

together and he said

it's going to take time

and his answer did suggest

there's a lot we need to fix

within this team

interestingly both drivers

did kind of

maybe they've been told to say

that we both

could be doing better

ourselves

definitely true of Lewis

I think it's harsh for

Charles

because he's been doing so

well

and Charles did also say

he's very proud of his

season

because you know

Elkinson they need to focus

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